Gluten Free Cookies...The Buckeye edition.

1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese, softened1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter...I tried to find all natural stuff but ended up using some random Australian made stuff, that much to my disappointment the second ingredient was "vegetable oil"...1 cup graham cracker crumbs - of course being allergic to gluten, I used gluten free tea biscuits found at Coles.3 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks or 5 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled12 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped - I used milk chocolate because I don't like dark...I know.

Step 1. Ask Inspector Climate to beat gluten free tea biscuits in a plastic bag with a wooden rolling pin. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and peanut together with an electric hand mixer - if you are lucky, you could due this in a kitchen aid like device, but I don't have that kind of technology. Add the crumbed biscuits, and beat for a few seconds. Add sugar and butter, mix until combined. Now in a stand up mixer I am sure this would come together and form a ball. However, using an electric hand mixer I had to get my hands dirty and form it into a ball myself.

Now, in hindsight I wish I had put this in the fridge for it to firm up a little before I formed into tablespoon sized balls. But I didn't do that...instead I skipped straight to step two.

Step 2. Using a double boiler (or a version of one if you're me and only have one glass bowl which was currently in use - so I used a small pot of simmering water underneath a larger saucepan...eh! Creative cooking) melt the chocolate until smooth.

Step 3. Line something that is flat (she suggests a cookie sheet, but again, I only have one of those and it was being used for different type of cookie) with parchment paper (or if you're Australian and think 'parchment paper' is the silliest thing you've ever heard (I am talking to you Inspector Climate) "baking paper"). Roll the peanut butter mixture into 1 tablespoon sized balls. Stab with a skewer and dip into the slightly cooled chocolate. Now as you'll see from her beautiful pictures - they look AMAZING. However, mine looked more like this:

Which is to say they looked liked balls in chocolate skirts. Which is cool. I guess. Part of the problem was that the peanut mixture was really soft and thus the skewers would tear and rip when we dipped it into the chocolate. So we never really got the "eye" like look that Smitten Kitchen did.

They are still delicious though. And appearance isn't EVERYTHING? right? RIGHT?

We only made half a recipe and we got 36 cookies. Nom nom nom. They are absolutely delicious and the fact that they don't have any flour means that they adapt reallly easily to being gluten free. Win win.

Edited to add: oh yeah, refrigerate the cookies....they'll keep for nearly a week in the fridge.

i wish you could edit a comment. because i forgot to write that i feel like such a grown up because i own a double boiler. (don't let me fool you, i am not. i still only own 1 saucepan, an egg poacher, an asparagus steamer, a hand-mixer, a double boiler and 2 champagne flutes.)

ps. now i'm hungry. and i want a peanutbutter chocolate ball of goodness. le sigh.